It has been an incredible victory for the AIADMK. And, it is as much a greater fall for the DMK.
As pollsters glued to television screens were dumbfounded, some of the veteran parliamentarians like MDMK general secretary Vaiko, Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Congress and T.R. Baalu of the DMK fell by the wayside.
Only two from the ‘third front’ forged by the BJP — Anbumani Ramadoss from the PMK’s stronghold of Dharmapuri and BJP State president Pon Radhakrishnan from Kanyakumari — have bucked the trend to emerge victorious, tapping into the Modi factor. And both may figure in Narendra Modi’s Cabinet as a reward for stemming a complete rout for the NDA in the State.
Nothing must have come as a shocker to the DMK than the defeat of its stalwarts and former Union Ministers, T.R. Baalu, A. Raja and Dayanidhi Maran.
Naturally, the AIADMK’s giant-killers, K. Parasuraman from Thanjavur, and C. Gopalakrishnan from the Nilgiris, apart from Mr. Vijaya Kumar, are winners basking in the limelight. Another prominent winner for the ruling party is T. Radhakrishnan, who defeated MDMK general secretary Vaiko with a handsome margin. The three sitting MPs of the AIADMK, M. Thambidurai from Karur, P. Kumar from Tiruchi and P. Venugopal from Thiruvallur, have emerged as clear winners.
The only known face in the DMDK, L.K. Sudeesh, brother-in-law of party founder and actor Vijayakant, came a distant third in Salem.
PMK president G.K. Mani also came third in Krishnagiri. Thol. Thirumavalavan, leader of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, a DMK ally, lost by 1.28 lakh votes in Chidambaram, considered his home turf.
Another Dalit leader K. Krishnasamy of the Puthiya Tamizhagam lost by 1.5 lakh votes in Tenkasi.
In line with the national mood, Congress stalwarts from Tamil Nadu ,including Mr. Aiyar (Mayiladuthurai), R. Prabu (Coimbatore), E.V.K.S. Elangovan (Tirupur), N.S.V. Chithan (Dindigul) and V. Narayanasamy (Puducherry), and emerging political scions such as Karti P. Chidambaram (Sivaganga), Mohan Kumaramangalam Jr (Salem), M.K. Vishnu Prasad (Arani), Sarubala R. Thondaiman (Tiruchi), T. Krishnasamy Vandayar (Thanjavur), Rama Suganthan (Dharmapuri) and S. Jothimani (Karur) lost miserably, several of them even losing their deposits. The general secretary Digvijay Singh’s deputy in the AICC, A. Chellakumar, lost in Krishnagiri.
Perhaps, the only silver lining for the Congress was in Kanyakumari, where H. Vasanth Kumar gave the BJP a tough fight to finish second.
